While Justin Trudeau was in Montreal to pre-meet with some premiers in advance of the first ministers’ conference, Andrew Scheer was present, fresh from being booed by the chiefs at the Assembly of First Nations, and he led off with the false notion that premiers had to resort to threats before the oil and gas sector was on the agenda at the first ministers’ meeting, and surprisingly, Diane Lebouthillier got up to read that they were taking measures to help the workers. Scheer then worried that the Crown lawyers were trying to block the Canadian Taxpayers Federation from intervening at the Saskatchewan carbon tax court challenge, to which Amarjeet Sohi replier that they were trying to fix a broken pipeline system that we inherited from the Harper government — which wasn’t the question. Scheer railed that the government was trying to phase out the energy sector and demanded that Bill C-69 be withdrawn, to which Sohi replied that when the government tried to extend EI supports for laid off workers, the Conservatives voted against it and funding for orphan oil wells. Gérard Deltell worried about the economic turbulence meaning higher interest rates — which, actually, would be a sign of a good economy — and Scott Brison reminded him that when they took office, the country was in a technical recession and the current government turned it around. Deltell tried again, and got the same answer. Guy Caron was up next for the NDP, and raising the Trans Mountain pipeline, wondered when ten government would take its responsibilities to Indigenous communities seriously. Sohi said that they were taking the renewed consultations seriously. Caron worried that Trudeau was dismissive of a First Nations Chief yesterday, to which Philpott got up to defend the PM’s honour. Rachel Blaney took over to rail about “free, prior and informed consent,” and Sohi repeated their renewed consultations. When Blaney repeated the demand that Trudeau apologise to that BC Chief, Philpott again defended the PM.

Deltell is worried that the government’s actions mean higher interest rates.
Erm, this is actually a good thing. Right now, rates are below the neutral range. #QP

— Dale Smith (@journo_dale) December 6, 2018

Round two, and Luc Berthold, Rosemarie Falk, Stephanie Kusie, and Jamie Schmale railed about the state of the economy, which they posited to be doomed (O’Connell: We turned the economy around and it’s now growing; Champagne: Look at these infrastructure investments we’ve delivered; Lametti: Look at our investments in innovation), Colin Carrie demanded a plan for the GM plant (Lametti: We are investing in the auto economy in a variety of ways), and Erin O’Toole demanded an action plan on competitiveness (O’Connell: We’ve lowered taxes and put in measures to help businesses). Nathan Cullen made allegations about Raj Grewal and fundraising (Chagger: The RCMP operates independently), and Peter Julian demanded an accounting on Trans Mountain purchase costs (O’Connell: This is an investment in Canada’s future). Pierre Paul-Hus and Dan Albas demanded Huawei be banished from Canada (Lametti: We won’t compromise national security). Niki Ashton asked about inadequate care for remote Indigenous communities (Philpott: Thanks for raising this issue, and we work with provinces and territories who deliver care), and Charlie Angus asked about the shortages in Grassy Narrows (Philpott: We have taken action and I’ve already shown you those numbers).

Round three saw questions on Toronto Star funding (Rodriguez: A bankrupt press is not a free press), the Infrastructure Bank (Champagne: The Bank has invested in Montreal transit), the Ontario French-language university (Joly: The Ontario government is leaving money on the table because this isn’t a priority for them), Supply Management (MacAulay: We have defended the system), calling the Clerk of the Privy Council to ethics committee to talk Grewal (Chagger: committees are independent and you are trying to politicise them), the allegations around the Brampton land deal (Chagger: The Minister has already responded to this), undelivered Indigenous legislation (Philpott: Because of the budget implementation bill, adding lands to reserves will go faster than ever), protecting pensions in bankruptcy (Lametti: We are taking a whole-of-government, evidence-based approach), VIA Rail’s fleet renewal (Garneau: VIA is arm’s length and we have free trade agreement that have procurement rules), getting provincial consent on signing the UN global compact on migration (DeCourcey: We have consulted provinces and experts, and no one had any concerns), and Nunavut being a party in Dene treaties (Miller: The government of Nunavut is being consulted).

Overall, it was a fairly rowdy day, and it was a little curious that so many different ministers stood up to deliver responses in the leaders round, particularly to have Diane Lebouthillier lead off at the top. While the Conservatives have decided that their new tactic will be to paint a picture of economic doom (Dooooooooooooooooom!) and that of a looming jobs crisis (despite evidence to the contrary in most of the country), the Liberals are mostly sticking to their bland talking points rather than refuting the accusations on the substance – with the exception of Jennifer O’Connell, one of Bill Morneau’s parliamentary secretaries, who isn’t afraid to get a bit more robust in her replies and to hit back at the Conservatives. Of course, she gets heckled louder for her efforts, and there is little wit in the repartee between sides, but at least there is a bit more of a vigorous response rather than more pabulum talking points like we get from the minister – that is, when they bother to reply to something resembling the question. Also, for a party that likes to brand itself as being good economic managers, the Conservatives seem to have no clue about how interest rates work, which should be concerning to everyone who listens.

Sartorially speaking, snaps go out to Scott Brison for a finely tailored black suit with a white shirt and red tie, and to Linda Lapointe for a black dress with a white cross-hatch pattern and a white jacket. Style citations go out to Diane Finley for a shiny vinyl jacket with a faux snakeskin texture but was printed with loud colour blocks and florals, and go Michel Picard for a greenish-yellow corduroy jacket with a black waistcoat and a white collared shirt with no tie.